Tag: AFRICA

Germany to ramp up security at Swiss border after migrant pushed 8yo boy under train

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Days after a foreigner killed a young boy by pushing him and his mother under a train, the German interior minister has recommended stricter checks at the country’s Swiss border and advanced security measures at all rail stations.

“I will do everything in order to put intelligent controls in place on the border,” Horst Seehofer told Spiegel magazine in a follow-up to the harrowing incident at Frankfurt station, in which a 40-year-old Eritrean man assaulted an eight-year-old boy and his mother.

The immigrant, believed to have lived in Switzerland since 2006, pushed the pair onto the tracks seconds before a high-speed train, the Intercity Express, arrived.

The mother managed to roll out of harm’s way but her child was killed. The attacker then attempted to flee the station but was pursued by a group of passengers and was eventually apprehended by police outside the Frankfurt terminal.

READ MORE: Foreigner pushes 8yo boy in front of train in Germany, reigniting migration debate

Now, Seehofer wants to introduce “occasional, temporary checks at the border with Switzerland” to screen foreigners. Both Germany and Switzerland are in the visa-free Schengen area, but travelers crossing their border aren’t subjected to any controls.

The issue needs to be dealt with immediately, Seehofer warned, mentioning that a total of 43,000 unauthorized arrivals had been registered in Germany last year. The conservative politician was once at odds with Angela Merkel over imposing limits on incoming immigrants, but this time the Chancellor “is fully on my side on the issues of security.”

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Border checks aside, Seehofer also urges ramping up security at railway stations. He didn’t expand on that but said it could involve installing safety barriers or locks on the platforms – similar to those already in use in London and Paris. Such countermeasures could potentially cost billions of Euros, the minister acknowledged

The Frankfurt tragedy re-ignited a heated migration debate that reached its climax back in 2015 and 2016, when Germany opened its borders to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers – mostly from the Middle East and Africa. The heavy influx of migrants saw the crime rate going up and also led to the resurgence of the far-right extremists ready to use violence against foreigners and “pro-refugee” politicians.

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Top EU Official: ‘Europe, Africa Destinies Linked – We’re In This Together’

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Europe and Africa are ‘sister continents’ whose destinies are intertwined, claims Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission (EC).

Timmermans, who is vying to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EC, was recently nominated to lead the Party of European Socialists in next year’s EU Parliament elections.

During an address to party delegates in Lisbon, Portugal, Timmermans laid out his vision for the EU and Africa as co-dependent bodies, drawing parallels to post-World War II reconciliation efforts and the reemergence of European nations from behind the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union

“If we do not understand that the development of our sister continent is of essential importance for our collective future, then we will make a huge mistake,” Timmermans said. “It is a matter of destiny.”

“Whose fate is going to be dealt with by whom? Europe’s fate by Africans, Africa’s fate by Europeans – we’re in this together. Our destinies are linked, and the only way we can get the migration issue under control and manageable – without losing track of our values – is if we are part of a sustainable development of Africa in all senses of the word.”

Timmermans vowed that if he becomes head of the EC, he “will make sure” all European nations share in the “common responsibility” of Africa – likely a reference to facilitating increased migration from a continent whose population is conservatively projected by the UN to reach 4.4 billion by 2100.

He asserted that a “substantial part” of the next EC budget should be allocated for “integration” services and infrastructure for migrants, including new schools, medical facilities, and language education.

Timmermans issued predictable condemnations of nationalism and populism currently sweeping the West in reaction to globalism, calling the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum the “absolute low point” of his political career.

“I know that many of you would have liked to have seen a woman standing where I am standing now,” Timmersman said in the latter half of his speech. “Sadly that’s not something I can offer. The only thing I can do is offer a male feminist, and that’s who I am.”

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